


bells

by jilylicious



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Florist AU, Fluff, M/M, jily, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2018-12-26 02:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilylicious/pseuds/jilylicious
Summary: This story starts with a single red rose but it's not The Bachelor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based off of a headcanon by @homosexualsiriusblack on tumblr

Flowers had always been a passion for Remus. His father owned a small flower shop in his hometown and Remus remembered all the times his father took him to the shop with him, teaching him all the small tricks he had for the best flowers. Remus remembered one day he was playing with a rose and starting plucking it’s petals off, he was around five. He reminisced how his father sad him down and told him how flowers had lives inside them as we all do and how Remus was taking the beauty of it by doing something like this, it was fun for Remus but what good did it do to have a petalless rose? After that he didn’t even step on grass if he didn’t have to.

When Remus moved to the big city, he had the intention of having a small place and sell beautiful flowers to beautiful people. Each flower had their own meaning, the same flower could mean a thousand different things. Remus had sold the same flower for a wedding and for a funeral, that’s what he loved about flowers. They were beautiful the way they were but the meanings people gave to them made them divine. Having a flower shop in the city wasn’t the best paying job but he loved what he was doing and he was getting by just fine. 

After preparing a bouquet for a woman around her 40s so she could take it to her mother, he decided to sit down for a bit. The lunch break was over so he thought there wouldn’t be many people coming until rush hour. He sat down at his chair and started reading his book from where he left off. 

It hadn’t been 15 minutes when he heard the familiar chime of the bell above his shop’s door. He lifted his head up to say hello but choked on his words when he saw the person who walked in. He was shorter than Remus, had shoulder length black hair. He was wearing a leather jacket on top of very skinny black jeans that were ripped at the knees and a white t-shirt. Remus felt his jaw drop as the stunning stranger took of his Ray-Bans and gave him a smile.

“Hello,” he said. His voice was smoke filled and as he looked around Remus saw a tattoo around his shoulder climbing up to the back of his neck. He swore under his breath and smiled back.

“Hello,” he said as he put down his book and stood up. “What can I help you with?”

The stranger turned his gaze on him and licked his lips before speaking again. Remus wasn’t sure what was going on right now but if this gorgeous man didn’t stop looking at him the way he did, he was going to die. He could feel his cheeks go red as he looked at the man with grey eyes. 

“I would like to buy a single red rose please,” he said with a slight smirk on his face. Remus nodded and he passed by his  _customer_  to get to where the roses were. He smelled like what dreams were made of, he held his breath to keep himself from burying his head where his tattoo ended.

“Will this be all?” he asked trying to hide his senseless lust as well as he could. “Is there a colour your girlfriend likes?”

“Oh, no no,” he laughed and Remus thought the world peace was finally achieved. “It’s for my mother. I want to present it to my mother as she mourns the loss of my presence under her roof.”

“Oh,” stuttered Remus. That was a weird information to share with a florist but he prepared the rose, cut off the thorns and gave it to apparently rebellious man. “It will be 3 pounds.”

The black haired man took out the money from his pocket and put it in Remus’ hand, his hands were so cold it made Remus shiver. 

“Thanks,” he said with a grin and left the shop, leaving behind a flabbergasted Remus and he felt thankful for skin tight jeans as the family disappointment walked out to disappoint his mother one last time.

Remus spent the next three days hoping that his gorgeous customer comes but after that he lost hope and cursed at his own luck. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Evans, can you give birth already?”

“Why is he here?” asked Lily to her husband who was watching Sirius and her bicker with a grin on his face.

“His mother finally kicked him out of that shit hole,” replied James. “That’s why.”

“I’m  _nine_  months pregnant,” she complained. “Don’t I get a say in who stays in my house?”

“I just need a proper reason to go back to that florist,” explained Sirius as he kneeled next to the sofa where Lily was lying down. “Prongslet, I don’t want to rush you but Uncle Padfoot is in love. Help me.”

“Okay Sirius, I know you are not the brightest one in the batch but,” teased Lily and Sirius’ eyebrow shot up in mere seconds. “Why can’t you just  _lie_? That was never a problem for you.”

“I don’t want a relationship built on lies with my future husband.”

“Dear God,” sighed Lily as she let her head fall to the back. “You are an idiot. You’ve been in love with like  _five_  different people in the past six months.”

“You don’t understand,” shot back Sirius. “You should have seen him. He’s tall and has these sandy locks and his hair is such a mess and he was wearing this baggy sweater and his hands were so gentle with that stupid rose and he has these warm brown eyes--”

“Pads,” laughed James. “ _Breathe,_  mate.”

“All I’m saying is,” Sirius stopped to take a breath. “If you could just give birth, all of my problems and  _your_  problems will be solved.”

“Yeah Black, as if giving birth is as easy as shitting.”

“You kiss my best friend with that mouth?” teased Sirius with a smirk. 

“Oh, fuck off,” answered Lily with a tired laugh and curled up on the sofa as much as she can for a small nap. She was always so tired lately but that probably had something to do with the fact that there was a human growing inside her. James and Sirius went to the kitchen to let the lady with a baby sleep in peace.

“Where’s Pete?” asked Sirius.

“I don’t know,” shrugged James. “He is been in full panic mode since he found out Lily is due around this week.”

“JAAAAAAAAAAMES!” yelled Lily, her voice cracking a little bit.

“Yes babe?”

“Food is ready,” she said and Sirius looked at James with a confused look on his face. “Seems,  _ARGH_ , Sirius got what he wanted.”

“What foo-  _What?!_ ”

“Shit,” cursed James and ran towards the door. “The baby is coming.”

“The baby??” shouted Sirius in response and ran to the living room right after James. 

“Pads, go get the bag from upstairs and I will help Lily to the car,” ordered James. “Call Peter and I’ll call the in laws.”

“On it!”

James helped Lily walk to the car and Sirius came back with the bag and Lily’s pillow in mere seconds. They were on the way when Sirius decided to call Peter.

“Pete?”

“AARRGH!”

“What the fuck is going on there Pads?” asked Peter with a scared voice.

“The baby is coming,” explained Sirius and turned around to check on Lily. “Lils short breaths. Come on. Huh huh huh. One, two, three, one, two, you’re doing amazing.”

“Th-- the baby?” queried Peter in amazement.

“I will murder him,” interrupted Lily. “Fucking Wormy is afraid of pregnant women. If he doesn’t c--ARGH!”

“She is in a lot of pain at the moment,” he clarified to Peter. “Continue Lils, one, two, three. Now, Peter you get your ass over here right now or so help me God I will punch you.”

“Okay, shit,” mumbled Peter on the other end. “Everyone’s a bit on the edge, eh?”

“A human is going to come out of the redhead, so yes we are all a bit on the edge arsehole.”

“Alright,  _alright_ ,” surrendered Peter. “Now hang up the phone and I’ll meet you guys there.”

When they got to the hospital, Peter was waiting there with ice cold water in his hand which made Lily smile. Peter looked relieved that she didn’t get angry at him again. It was so chaotic that Sirius had stopped thinking about the florist. 

“So,” began Lily completely out of breath from the pain she was feeling. “When are you getting me my flowers?”

“When you are not in pain anymore,” smiled Sirius and Lily squeezed his hand a little bit too tight at that moment. “Woman, you are  _strong_.”

“I think she broke something,” winced Peter. He was holding her other hand while James was walking up and down, delivering the news to everyone he knows.   

“Oh, the both of you stop complaining!” scolded Lily, her cheeks as red as her hair. “Just imagine someone is kicking you repeatedly in the balls, what would you do?”

“Cry,” said Peter with a disgusted look on his face.

“Definitely cry,” added Sirius with a soft laughter. He had been expecting this baby as much as the Potters. He had already bought him ridiculous amount of toys and clothes and he couldn’t wait until he held the baby in his arms.

“Where the bloody hell is my husband?” asked Lily with a eyebrow raised, that was never a good sign.

“I’ll go get him,” babbled Peter and ran of as fast as he could having found a reason the get his hand free from Lily’s grip.

“Are you ready to be a godfather, Black?”

“I was  _born_  ready, Evans,” he replied as he slowly played with her auburn hair. “We are going to be one amazing family.”

“Yes we are,” smiled Lily and in a few minutes her and James left for the delivery room. Sirius could barely contain himself and Peter looked like he was about to faint from the tension of it all. They had to wait for what seemed like a year before James came out with a grin bigger than himself on his face.

“ _Harry James Potter_ ,” he announced proudly. “The most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.”

The parents were in a frenzy of their own but Sirius’ first instinct was to go and hug his best friend. Nine months they had waited for this and finally baby Potter was here. The hours they spent talking about his name, what his eyes would be like and all the hardship Lily and James went through came down to a seven pound human. Sirius didn’t know if he would have kids of his own but he knew Harry would be just as important to him as his own child.

“Now they both have to rest but I reckon you’ll be able to see him in an hour,” he said as he patted Sirius on the back and got a hug from Peter. 

“I’ll go to see my wife and my baby now if you’ll excuse me,” smiled James and went away again. 

Now that he knew everyone was okay, his mind was already working on what he will do tomorrow at the flower shop. Maybe he could learn the florist’s name or maybe even talk to him.  All of this mayhem made him a little tired so he got lost in his daydreams until James took them to see Harry. The moment he held the small bundle in his arms, he knew life would never be the same again but what he didn’t know was that when the bells above the flower shop’s door rand again, he wouldn’t be the same either.   


	3. Chapter 3

Remus had been dealing with the sunflowers that hadn’t been looking so well today when he heard the familiar sound of the bells above the shop door. He turned around slowly to just to choke on his words.

“Hi,” said the ethereal person who had visited him almost a week ago. 

“H-hello,” mumbled Remus trying to get out of the trance he was in, this was it, for once he had gotten what he wanted. “What can I help you with this time?”

“Oh,” he smiled and Remus could swear the sunflowers looked more alive than they did five minutes ago. “So you remember me?”

“Well, not many people buy single roses for their mothers they don’t seem to like.”

“More like hate,” he corrected with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smirk. “I was hoping I could get some flowers for my best friend’s wife, she gave birth yesterday.”

“Congratulations!” gushed Remus with a little more than necessary excitement. “So do you have a preference–”

“Sirius,” he replied. “It’s Sirius and yes, I would like some lilies if you have any.”

“Remus,” he returned. “Nice meeting you, Sirius and yes I have some beautiful white lilies, give me a minute.”

With something definitely bigger than butterflies flying around his stomach, Remus went to the other side of his shop to get some lilies for Sirius.

“This might take a few minutes,” said Remus as he started preparing the bouquet.

“That’s completely fine,” assured Sirius with a small nod and started looking around the shop. This time he was wearing a Queen t-shirt, good taste in music noted Remus, and same skinny jeans without the ripped knees. His hair was in a bun and he had several piercings on his ears. Remus felt like this man was hand crafted and he was just created in 5 seconds. His hands were working on the bouquet but his eyes were on Sirius and he, of course, got caught.

“So what’s the name of the baby?” he asked just to get rid of the awkwardness of the situation.

“ _Harry_ ,” answered Sirius dreamily. “He is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life, he has these chubby hands a head full of hair. He is  _amazing_.”

Remus simply smiled at his excitement. From the way he looks, you wouldn’t say Sirius is a man to fall in love with a baby but the way he talked about Harry made Remus’ insides melt. 

“Here you go,” Remus said as he stretched the carefully prepared bouquet. 

“This looks incredible,” raved Sirius. “Thank you, Remus. I’m sure Lily will love it.”

“Ah, her name is Lily!” he laughed. “That’s cute.”

“So,  _um_ , how much is it?”

“No, it’s a gift from me to Harry,” answered Remus. He did this all the time, for the customers he had a good laugh or a conversation with he gave away the bouquets for free or with a discount but Sirius was another story.

“I can’t accept that,” countered Remus and reached for a 20 pound and left it on the table. “Please take that, Remus.”

“Well, thank you,” said Remus shyly as he took the money from the table. “I hope he has an amazing life!”

“I will make sure of that,” smiled Sirius and turned around to leave. “See you around!”

The door bell made the familiar sound again and Sirius was out of the door.

* * *

“See you around, Black?” he whispered to himself. “Seriously, idiot?”

Now Sirius was out of excuses to go see the tall, lanky florist but at least he knew his name.  _Remus._  

Lily always blamed Sirius of being a serial flirter but with Remus, he didn’t know what to say or even what to do. His eyes were so warm and genuine Sirius felt like telling him everything that came to his mind without any mask to hide all his insecurities and secrets. 

As he walked back to hospital to give Lily her flowers there was only one thing on Sirius Black’s mind: to find an excuse to go back as soon as possible. 

“Hello Lilykins,” he chanted as he walked into the room and was shushed immediately by Peter who was standing over Harry, watching the sleeping boy. “I’m sorry.”

“Black, I see you went to the florist,” teased Lily with a tired voice and a grin.

“I did it all for you,” shot back Sirius with a grin.

“You’re a bloody liar Pads,” laughed Peter softly. 

“Language Wormy, there’s a baby in the room.”

“Fuck you,” mouthed Peter and went back to watching the small baby who was making noises. “Did you get his phone?”

“Nah, mate,” replied Sirius. “But I got his name, it’s Remus.”

“Oh, you guys are  _so_  meant to be,” snickered Lily. “You finally found someone with a name as ridiculous as yours.”

“Yes we  _are_ , thank you very much” he said proudly. “Now I need another reason to go back. Petey?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna get in a minor accident?”

“Piss off,” grunted Peter and came next to Lily to sit down. “Just tell him it’s Marlene’s birthday or you pissed someone off? I mean I wouldn’t say no to some flowers.”

“I’m serious!” scolded Sirius and James walked in, looking as if he hadn’t slept all night.

“We all know who you are Pads, no need to remind us again,” James grinned faintly and sat down by Lily. “Is this about the flower boy?”

“His name is Remus!”

“Aha!” exclaimed James. “You found someone–”

“–with a name as ridiculous as mine,” completed Sirius with an annoyed look on his face but he was secretly enjoying this. James was looking sad because he didn’t get to finish his joke. “Do you guys have to be so disgustingly in harmony all the time?”

“Yeah, actually we do,” boasted Lily as he patted James’ leg. “Now, I really need to rest and I don’t want to be rude or anything but get out?”

“That wasn’t rude  _at all_ , Lils,” joked James while stroking her hair. 

“We’ll be around if you need us,” said Peter and kissed Lily on the cheek slowly.

“See you, Evans,” said Sirius as he kissed the red haired girl’s temple. “Come on Pete, let’s go find some credible excuses to go to the florist for.”

“ _Save me_ ,” whispered Peter as Sirius dragged him out of the room but it was too late for everything.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been maybe two days since what Remus referred to as the  _Sirius Incident_. After Sirius had left with his bouquet, Remus had to sit down for a bit to understand what had just happened in his small flower shop. The man he wished would come back had came back and Remus now knew his name.

_Sirius._

With that kind of name if Remus wanted to find him, he could have easily or with his name, if Sirius wanted to find him, he could have done so as well but Remus had a good feeling about this. It had been a while since he had a good feeling about anything. Just when he was deciding whether he should make some tea or not, the bells above the door chimed. 

“Hello, Remus,” came the smokey voice of Sirius and Remus almost dropped the kettle in his hand. He quickly wiped his wet hands on his pants and turned around. 

“Hi,” he smiled, a little bit too enthusiastically than Remus would have preferred. “What can I help you with?”

“I--um--” stuttered Sirius as he ran a hand through his shiny black locks. “I had a-- a small  _disagreement_  with a good friend of mine and she, uh, she likes flowers so..”

“Oh, I get it,” said Remus, he didn’t know why he sounded so disappointed. A man like Sirius could and definitely would have girl friends who he would buy flowers for because he made them angry. Remus had all these flowers but he would rather have some that Sirius bought for him. “So any particular flowers this time?”

“N-no, I guess,” mumbled Sirius as he looked around. “I trust your taste with this one.”

Remus nodded and turned around to grab some baby’s breath and a few daisies to throw in there; he always thought baby’s breath were amazing flowers just a bit boring on their own.

“How’s Harry?” he asked to make small talk. Today it was a bit awkward between them and Sirius seemed a bit less straightforward than he used to be before.

“He is amazing,” raved Sirius with a grin on his face. “All he does is sleep and mumble but he is just-- he is a  _miracle_.”

“Did your friend, um Lily, like her flowers?”

“She adored them,” he replied without looking up from the orchid he was gently touching. “Why flowers?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Why did you become a florist?”

“My dad,” began Remus as he kept putting together the bouquet. “He is a florist in my hometown and he taught me about flowers since I was maybe 4 years old. It’s a passion more than a job. Looking at flowers all day is better than sitting in a cubicle doing a job I don’t like.”

“I mean look at them, they have maybe a week or if we are lucky 10 days more to look pretty and I think they get prettier when you put some meaning on them. The flower you bought for your mum didn’t get prettier because it was a satirical gift but the lilies you bought for your friend looked gorgeous because they were meant for a woman who just gave birth. These will look a lot better because you are going to win someone back with them, it’s just-- it’s very interesting to see how we can affect these creatures like this.”

Remus lifted his eyes from the bouquet that was finished to look at Sirius who was watching him incredulously. 

“I get carried away all the time,” he apologised with a shy smile as he handed the bouquet to Sirius. “Like I said, it’s a passion not a job.”

“No, that was-” he sighed. “That was such a marvellous reply actually. I never thought about it like that before and that explains why your flowers look the way they do all the time. You genuinely  _love_  them.”

“Yes, yes I do,” answered Remus smiling slightly. He never had a customer ask him why he chose to be a florist out of all the jobs available. “As you can see I love talking about them as well.”

“Well, it’s  _cute_ ,” said Sirius and choked on his own spit right after he said it. Remus could feel his cheeks burning up and going so red that the red tulips probably looked paler compared to him. Remus cleared his throat as if it would get rid of the awkwardness in the air.

“That will be 15 pounds,” he blurted out and looked at Sirius.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied and put the bouquet down to get the money out of his yet again ridiculously tight pants’ pockets. He waved goodbye and left without saying another word. If Sirius wasn’t so pale he would have sworn he blushed, too.

It was when Remus sat down that he saw the bouquet he prepared was standing on his table, Sirius had forgotten to take the bouquet as he was leaving. He was about to get the bouquet and ran out of the shop in hopes of catching up with him, Sirius walked in with a confused grin on his face making the bells chime frantically.

“You--”

“Yeah, I forgot,” he completed. “I’m a bit tired I guess.”

“You should get some sleep,” said Remus with a smile. “Or a coffee, there’s a coffee shop right around the corner. It’s very hipster but their coffees are good.”

_Please ask me to get a coffee with you, please, please._

_“_ I should probably do that,” consented Sirius and left with the bouquet this time, throwing away a chance he probably won’t get anytime soon.

“What is wrong with me?” he asked to himself. Once again in front of the flower shop he was talking to himself. This was the second time Sirius made a fool of himself in front of Remus and the first time he missed a chance to spend some proper time with him.

_Third time is a charm, right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the chapters are quite short but I don't know how long I can make the visits without it being unrealistic. I hope you guys enjoy this nevertheless!


	5. Chapter 5

Remus had never doubted himself as he did right now. He had told himself he had a good feeling about Sirius that whatever this was, it would get somewhere and not be just another crush Remus had but after another week of nothing from the black haired, high cheek boned prince of sass and cute, Remus was losing his hope.

It had always been like this for Remus, he would get worked up about this one person for a while and would give up almost instantly if he saw that there was no way this would work out but Sirius had made him feel different than that. For once, he didn’t feel like letting go but he kind of knew he’d had to. He was just a customer and whatever Remus thought was there, it just wasn’t. Sirius was a flirtatious person and that was about it.

So when the bell above the door rang for the fifth time that day, Remus took his time to turn around. The customer didn’t sound like they were in a rush and neither was Remus. He turned around after he put away his garden scissors and choked on his own spit while trying to say hello.

“Hi there, Remus,” smiled Sirius with a sort of nervous smile. “It’s been a while.”

“Oh,” laughed Remus softly trying to fix his voice. “Hello! What can I help you with today?”

“Actually,” he began, his head bowed down a little and grey eyes fixed on Remus’. “I’m not here for flowers today.”

“You aren’t?” asked Remus incredulously, his heart beating like a thousand drums. 

“No, I actually came here for you today.”

“You  _did_?” said Remus with a confused look on his face hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

“So Lily has this orchid,” he replied with a sigh. “And, um, she was wondering, yeah, wondering how to keep it alive.”

“Oh for god’s sake,” whispered Remus to himself as he sat down on his wooden chair. “Are you taking the piss?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Are you,” articulated Remus with sarcasm in his voice. “Taking…  _the piss_?”

“I don’t understand,” mumbled Sirius.

“What is this, the fourth time you came to my shop?”

“Um, yes?”

“You know you can Google this, right?”

“I don’t find Google as reliable as most people do,” replied Sirius looking at the daisies right next to him. “Do you treat all your customers like this?”

“Not many customers have visited me four times  _in the last month_ , Sirius.”

“Fair,” nodded Sirius like a little child would. “Fair, I just–”

Then he stopped. Taking a look around with the slightest blush to his cheeks, Sirius walked slowly and sat down by the chair right in front of Remus’ work table. 

“I think I ran out of excuses to come over to your shop,” he confessed. “I asked Pete if he could have a small accident but he said ‘I can’t get in a car accident for you to go to a flower shop’. I’m reconsidering our friendship.”

“That’s unfortunate,” grinned Remus with a spark to his eyes. “You really don’t need your friends to get hurt to come visit me.”

“I don’t?”

“No,” he smiled. “You definitely don’t.”

“I should have asked you–”

“Yes, you should have,” teased Remus and looked at his watch. “I actually have a lunch break in about ten minutes if you, you know, wanted to grab something.”

“I’d like that,” sighed Sirius with relief of not having to ask Remus out. “I’m not like this usually, I just get nervous when I hear the bells above your door.”

“Is it the bells or maybe is it  _something else_?”

“Might be the latter,” smirked Sirius. “My friends are actually very curious about you.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I can’t believe I just said that out loud,” replied Sirius and shook his head. “It’s just that, they helped me come up with excuses and I just talk a lot.”

“Did Lily  _really_  give birth?” teased Remus as he slowly got up.

“Yes,” laughed Sirius in response. “Yes she did. Harry is very real and very loud.”

“I would love to meet them someday,” assured Remus as he pulled the door and the bells rang again. “I should replace the bells I guess if they make you nervous I guess.”

“No,” objected Sirius. “Please don’t. I’m actually quite fond of them.”

“I am, too,” smiled Remus and they walked to the coffee shop on the corner of the street together.

It was the kind of conversation where you wouldn’t look at your watch, couldn’t keep track of time. Sirius was funny, smart and very flirtatious as Remus had already guessed. He was able to talk about anything and everything in the most captivating way, Remus surely wasn’t expecting that.

Remus definitely didn’t know where this was going but he had a feeling the bells above his door would keep ringing for Sirius for a long time.

**T H E  E N D**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand the end.  
> I hope you guys liked this fic and I'm so sorry it took so long to finish such a short fic. Thank you for reading and leaving kudos or comments!  
> Now the next mission is writing _miracle_ , I really do hope I did it justice.


End file.
